The legendary drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses will perform with members of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society at Charlotte Street Foundation on Wednesday, April 17. Details are available here.
Plastic Sax’s Favorite Performances of 2023
Top Ten Performances by Kansas City Artists
1. Mike Dillon, Brian Haas and Nikki Glaspie at the Brick
Plastic Sax review.
2. Hermon Mehari at the Folly Theater
Plastic Sax review.
3. Adam Larson, Matt Clohesy and Jimmy Macbride at Westport Coffee House
Instagram clip.
4. Rod Fleeman at Green Lady Lounge
Instagram clip.
5. Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
Plastic Sax review.
6. Drew Williams, Alex Frank, Ben Tervort and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House
Plastic Sax review.
7. Cynthia van Roden at the Market at Meadowbrook
Instagram snapshot.
8. Chalis O’Neal at the Blue Room
Instagram clip.
9. Alan Voss, Benjamin Baker, Forest Stewart and Evan Verploegh at Swope Park Pavilion
Plastic Sax review.
10. Rich Hill, Arnold Young and Rob Whitsitt in Volker Park
Instagram clip.
Top Ten Performances by Artists from Elsewhere
1. Samara Joy at the Folly Theater
Plastic Sax review.
2. Devin Gray and Maria Elena Silva at the Firehouse Gallery
Plastic Sax review.
3. Bill Frisell, Greg Tardy, Gerald Clayton and Johnathan Blake at the 1900 Building
Plastic Sax review.
4. Artemis at the Gem Theater
Plastic Sax review.
5. CRAG Quartet and Joshua Gerowitz at the Bunker Center for the Arts
Instagram clip.
6. Miguel Zenón Quartet at the Folly Theater
Plastic Sax review.
7. Henrique Eisenmann and Eugene Friesen at the 1900 Building
Plastic Sax review.
8. Robert Stillman at the Midland Theater
There Stands the Glass review.
9. Jack Wright and Ron Stabinsky at Charlotte Street Foundation
Instagram clip.
10. Rob Magill and Marshall Trammell at Farewell
Plastic Sax review.
(Last year’s survey is here.)
Album Review: Brandon Cooper, Seth Andrew Davis, Krista Kopper, Evan Verploegh and Drew Williams- Compressed Space
An adventurous outing in the courtyard of Charlotte Street Foundation on May 18, 2022, was one of the most memorable performances presented by the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society. Ten days later, many of the same Kansas City musicians recorded Compressed Space. The document is even better than the concert. The improvisations of Drew Williams (woodwinds), Seth Andrew Davis (guitar and electronics), Krista Kopper (double bass), Brandon Cooper (drums and percussion) and Evan Verploegh (drums and percussion) range from pristine quietude to atomizing skronk.
Now’s the Time: Jack Wright
Jack Wright is a free jazz warhorse. The saxophonist has specialized in improvised noise for more than 40 years. Wright will perform with his frequent collaborator Ron Stabinsky and members of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society at Charlotte Street Foundation on Tuesday, January 31.
Plastic Sax's Favorite Performances of 2022
Top Performances by Kansas City Artists
1. Logan Richardson + Blues People at the Ship
2. Adam Larson, Clark Sommers and Dana Hall at Westport Coffee House
3. Black Crack Revue at Westport Coffee House
4. Steve Cardenas, Forest Stewart and Brian Steever at recordBar
5. Arnold Young and the RoughTet at the Ship
6. Bob Bowman and Peter Schlamb at Second Presbyterian Church
7. Evan Verplough and Ben Baker at World Culture KC
8. Rod Fleeman at Green Lady Lounge
9. Alter Destiny at Charlotte Street Foundation
10. Drew Williams, Ben Tervort and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House
Top Performances by Artists from Elsewhere
1. Nduduzo Makhathini at the Blue Room
2. Ohma at the Midland theater
3. Livia Nestrovski and Henrique Eisenmann at the 1900 Building
4. High Pulp at recordBar
5. Phillip Greenlief at Bushranger Records
6. Terence Blanchard at Atkins Auditorium
7. Keefe Jackson, Jakob Heinemann and Adam Shead at Black Dolphin
8. Esthesis Quartet at the Blue Room
9. Kind Folk at the Black Box
10. Bill Summers and Forward Back at Dunbar Park
Concert Review: Alter Destiny at Charlotte Street Foundation
Dwight Frizzell asked “what is reality” during the debut performance of Alter Destiny at Charlotte Street Foundation on Thursday, October 27. Members of the audience of about three dozen were likely pondering the same question.
After all, it seems impossible that Frizzell is still at the top of his game well into his sixth decade of making music in Kansas City. Frizell has challenged assumptions about how improvised music in Kansas City might sound since the 1970s.
Alter Destiny, Frizzell’s theatrical new trio with guitarist Julia Thro and percussionist Allaudin Ottinger, is a fresh twist on the interplanetary jazz the musicians create with the Kansas City institution Black Crack Revue. The larger ensemble observed its fortieth anniversary with a celebratory concert in August.
The trio shares BCR’s enthusiasm for traveling the spaceways blazed by Sun Ra. Improvisations over a recording of the aurora borealis were enhanced by a video backdrop of celestial spaces and bursts of theremin from guest artist Kat Dison Nechlebová. Quadraphonic sound furthered the interstellar experience.
The immersive sensibility wasn’t limited to the loudspeakers surrounding the audience. Frizzell and Ottinger roamed the room during an inventive jam and Frizzell occasionally exhorted the audience to unleash their minds in an effort to “alter destiny.”
Thro’s raw electric guitar riffs prevented Frizzell’s woodwinds and electronics and Ottinger’s airy rhythmic pulses from developing excessive ethereality. Even so, Alter Destiny stretched credulity throughout an unreal performance that was beyond belief.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
*The Kansas City musician Marvin Jones has died.
*Johnnie’s Jazz Bar & Grille in downtown Kansas City will transform into a Harry Potter-themed space for seven days in April.
*Steve Paul filmed a portion of Steve Cardenas’ appearance at recordBar. Joe Dimino documented Angela Ward Trio’s recent midday show at the Blue Room.
*Marc Myers admires Frank Foster at JazzWax.
*Tweet of the Week: Michael Eaton- I'm in Kansas City on April 20, playing with Second Nature Ensemble for the EMAS series at @CharlotteStreetaround 8:30pm. A great concert series worth your support! SN is a mix of free jazz, new music, and electronic music, aiming to do something different in KC jazz + improv.
Album Review: Seth Andrew Davis, Kyle Hutchins, Aaron Osborne and Evan Verploegh- Quartet, Vol. 1
The subversive artists of the Extemporaneous Music Society are picking up where they left off their extraordinarily productive 2021. The January 1 release of Quartet, Vol. 1 on Mother Brain Records is another provocative missive in the collective’s bold overhaul of Kansas City’s improvised music scene.
The album’s intentionally jarring contents will be familiar to those who encountered a concert by Seth Andrew Davis (electric guitar/laptop/electronics), Kyle Hutchins (saxophones), Aaron Osborne (bass/electronics) and Evan Verploegh (drums/percussion) at Charlotte Street Foundation last July.
The anarchic opening segment of the 32-minute “Of Other Mirrors” may cause even the most intrepid listeners to flinch. The confrontational blaring, obnoxious bleating and insidious braying seems designed to repel all comers. There’s a method to their madness. While retaining a harsh edge, the subsequent quieter passages reveal the quartet’s attentive interplay.
Jazz-oriented listeners are likely to gravitate to the contributions of Hutchins. His Dolphy-esque playing provides an analog counterpoint to industrial grating on “Of Other Mirrors,” the glitchy futurism of “Under a Strange Legend” and the somber malevolence of “So Many Stars Take Care of Me.” Viva la revolución!
The Kansas City's Jazz Scene's Top Trends and Stories of 2021
1. Mask off
Kansas City never entirely embraced pandemic precautions. Much of the populace treated official mandates as gratuitous suggestions. Even so, Kansas City’s live music landscape shifted during the difficulties. The good news is that new jazz-friendly venues replaced many of the rooms that didn’t survive.
2. Saying the quiet part out loud
Some readers of Plastic Sax are annoyed by this site’s penchant for disclosing disheartening attendance figures. Pat Metheny acknowledged the town’s limited appetite for jazz in an interview with In Kansas City magazine.
3. Fiver
Many observers insist that the customary absence of cover charges at performances of jazz devalues the music. Green Lady Lounge, Kansas City’s most popular jazz venue, instituted a five dollar admission fee this year.
4. Underground surge
Thanks largely to the initiatives of the enterprising young musicians Seth Davis and Evan Verploegh, avant-garde jazz and experimental music was much easier to find in 2021.
5. 3333
After relocating to 3333 Wyoming Street, the Charlotte Street Foundation became a welcoming home for left-of-center improvised music.
6. The beat goes on
The storied drummer Carl Allen replaced Bobby Watson as Endowed Chair of Jazz Studies at UMKC. Much of the jazz scene’s fate rests on Allen’s ability to attract and develop promising talent.
7. Dunn good
Gerald Dunn, the person who has become the institutional memory of the American Jazz Museum and has long served as an essential component of Kansas City’s music scene, was named a Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association.
8. Missouri uncompromised
Carolyn Glenn Brewer’s new study Under Missouri Skies: Pat Metheny in Kansas City 1965-1972 provides essential insights into a previously under-documented era.
9. Next level
Hermon Mehari’s progression as a refined practitioner of European jazz and the ascension of Lucy Wijnands’ career were among the most notable artistic developments by artists associated with Kansas City.
10. Rest in peace
The passing of organ kingpin Everette DeVan was the most prominent of several heartbreaking deaths.
The Top Ten Jazz Performances of 2021
I caught several dozen jazz performances in an unsettling year characterized by starts and stops. With a literal sense of danger in the air, each outing felt vital. The listing my favorite jazz-based performances in the Kansas City area includes a jaunt to Columbia for an essential bout of free jazz and a trek to Detroit to catch a Lee’s Summit native who no longer performs in his old stomping grounds.
1. J.D. Allen, Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits- Blue Room
2. Pat Metheny, James Francies and Joe Dyson- Orchestra Hall (Detroit)
3. Irreversible Entanglements- Stephens Lake Park Amphitheatre (Columbia)
4. Bird Fleming and Bill Summers’ “Voyage of the Drum”- Dunbar Park
5. Rod Fleeman- Green Lady Lounge
6. Eddie Moore, Ryan J. Lee and Zach Morrow- Charlotte Street Foundation
7. Thollem McDonas- 9th and State
8. Jeff Kaiser, Kevin Cheli and Seth Davis- Charlotte Street Foundation
9. Mike Dillon and Nikki Glaspie- 1900 Building
10. Second Nature Ensemble- Westport Coffee House
Lists of the top albums of 2021 are here. Links to similar annual top-show surveys for the past 11 years begin here.
Concert Review: Benjamin Baker, Kevin Cheli, Seth Davis, Jeff Kaiser, Aaron Osborne and Evan Verploegh at Charlotte Street Foundation
That’s not music! The common objection to experimental noise came to mind during separate performances of manic improvisations presented by the Extemporaneous Music Society at the Charlotte Street Foundation on Wednesday, October 20. Quadraphonic sound enhanced the maelstrom created by Jeff Kaiser (trumpet, electronics, gadgets), Kevin Cheli (drums, percussion) and Seth Davis (guitar). A dizzying racket spiraled around the audience of 25 from speakers in four corners of the room. Kaiser is a stupendously industrious trickster, so I didn’t mind the failure of Cheli and Davis to showcase material from their recently released album as a duo. My tolerance didn’t extend to the second set. Aaron Osborne (bass, percussion) made several interesting contributions to a collaboration with Benjamin Baker (saxophone) and Evan Verploegh (drums), but I’d hoped to hear the saxophonist and drummer present music from their outstanding new Singles album. Missed opportunities aside, the bold caterwauling was music to my ears.
Concert Review: Eddie Moore, Ryan J. Lee and Zach Morrow at Charlotte Street Foundation
A thrilling performance by a band led by Eddie Moore at the Tank Room five years ago was a factor in his selection as the 2016 Plastic Sax Person of the Year. The keyboardist’s appearance with Ryan J. Lee (keyboards/electronics) and Zach Morrow (drums) at Charlotte Street Foundation on Thursday, July 22, was no less triumphant. Bolstered by excellent sound, captivating video projections and a capacity audience of about 100 spirited admirers, Moore’s trio offered a vital fusion of jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop. Renderings of “Misunderstood” and “Single Double”, the new songs that opened and closed the hour-long set, were bigger and bolder than the recorded versions. Time will tell if the memorable concert was merely a satisfying summation of Moore’s career to date or the cornerstone of a new era for Kansas City’s music scene.
Concert Review: Kyle Hutchins, Aaron Osborne, Seth Davis and Evan Verploegh at Charlotte Street Foundation
Plastic Sax’s rave review of Second Nature Ensemble’s June performance at Westport Coffee House seems subdued compared to another observer’s analysis of the event that references Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre. As the cliché has it, hold my beer.
A concert including two of the same musicians- Seth Davis (electronics and guitar) and Evan Verploegh (drums)- at Charlotte Street Foundation on July 14 inspires additional purple prose. Abetted by Kyle Hutchins (saxophones) and Aaron Osborne (bass), Davis and Verploegh played two sets of sinister improvised music for about 20 attentive listeners.
The opening portion of the first set evoked a whale in distress before the liquid atmosphere gave way to deep space. A glitchy segment sounded as if a denizen of a distant planet was monitoring a decades-old radio broadcast of a Duke Ellington Orchestra concert. The final salvo could have been the soundtrack for a disaster film about an accident at a gene-editing laboratory.
The second set was a two-part guitar-based freakout. A jam in the vein of Mary Halvorson and Susan Alcorn gradually morphed into (Robert) frippery. The veracity of these flights of fancy can be checked against video documentation of the first and second sets. Cross-referencing texts by Nietzsche and Sartre is optional.